So there were some words offered to describe this session, these sessions, these seven sessions. And then there were some words offered last week. So I think the title was something like Meditation on True Nature. Is that right? Something like that? And so, True Nature is So our true nature is, I guess you could say, for starters, it's the way we really are. And at this stage, the way we really are is that we have, our nature is fundamentally and originally pure. And, yeah, so our nature is fundamentally pure.

[01:09]

We are the way things are in association with the way things aren't or in association with some kind of like pollution. And the way we fundamentally are, which is pure, is in conversation with a state of realization of our nature, which is sometimes called enlightenment or Buddhahood. And that is the way things are, but not in association with pollution. And the is to be purified of certain temporary conditions like attachments and misunderstandings.

[02:33]

But we don't we aren't just attachments and misunderstandings. We are also We are also suchness. And the suchness which we are is non-dual. So it's not in a dualistic relationship and our misconceptions. It's not in a dualistic relationship Would you mind moving that way about six inches? Take your time. Perfect. Are you comfortable? You can move your blanket also. So this description of our situation one of the places it's found is in a text I referred to, an Indian Buddhist text which has a long name and has two parts in a way.

[03:52]

One part is the great vehicle treatise on the highest continuity. And then the other part of the title, which is sometimes mentioned, is the analysis of the lineage of the jewel or jewels. And the jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. So, I often remember Susie Goreshi saying, everything's impermanent, everything changes, And so he said that.

[04:56]

And this is talking about a very high, a highest continuity. That although all things, all compounded things are impermanent, there is, for example, a continuity of their impermanence. of the reality of things that are impermanent. Like, human beings are impermanent, but there's a continuity to human beings also. Namely, that we're always co-arising. Every moment we're dependent and co-arising, there's a continuity in that way. We are always... the universe dependently co-arising as us in a particular moment. And that way that we're arising into a particular form in a particular moment that way is fundamentally pure.

[06:14]

Everything is included It's pure. However, there also is, for us, some tendency to project or superimpose on this pure creative process which we're manifesting in this moment to superimpose some idea upon it and grasp that idea. to take that idea as what we are and to hold on to it. But even that projection doesn't actually fundamentally reach our dependently co-arising basic existence which is pure and and there's a continuity of this purity

[07:18]

a long-standing tradition of moment-by-moment projection upon this creative process and grasping that projection as real, which causes, which creates stress, which is And so we have this fundamental pure nature. We also have a temporary kind of fantasy or impure way of relating to this fundamental purity which, you know, is trying to get a hold of it by projecting something on it by which you can get a hold of it. Meantime, those projections never do reach.

[08:23]

They always don't reach our fundamental nature. And that's another part of us. That's, you know, it's the... We're always that way that no idea of us reaches the way we are. And... And there's always projection of ideas of what we are upon ourselves. But we can learn to relate to our ideas and our attachments in a way to not adhere to them as real, not attach to them. We can learn to do that. And in that way our fundamental nature becomes purified of these projections even though the projections may still be arising they're no longer really an association or they're no longer adhering to our basic nature.

[09:26]

And in this process it helps to sometimes see that these projections are actually absent of our basic nature. And our basic nature is non-dual, so it also allows for the dependent core arising of these projections. We are fundamentally pure in our dependent core rising and the projections upon our dependent core rising are also dependent core risings that are fundamentally pure. So they're not in a dualistic relationship to our basic nature. They also have a basic nature that they're dependently co-origin, too.

[10:31]

But our basic dependent co-origination is not a projection. But it doesn't, and it also doesn't fight projections. And projections also, their fundamental nature is also not reached by any projection. And there's an absence of this projection all the time. Basically are. the Buddhas and their teaching and the Sangha, the community that studies the Buddha's teaching, arise from this fundamental situation of having this basic nature, which sometimes is called Buddha nature, Sometimes it's called the womb of the Buddha or the womb of the Siddhartha.

[11:36]

Sometimes it's called the Buddha element. And there's a relationship between this fundamental quality of our life, which is that we have this Buddha nature, and this Buddha nature is the way things really are associated with judgments. and misconceptions. That way we are now needs to be purified, and that way we are now has a relationship with the purification of that nature, or you could say the realization of that nature. So realizing the Buddha nature is to realize this is the fundamental pure nature and this is the projection and attachment So a relationship between our basic nature, which has this suchness or reality in association with pollution, it has a relationship with suchness unassociated with pollution.

[12:56]

In other words, we have a relationship with perfect enlightenment. And our basic nature is not dualistic, and perfect enlightenment is not dualistic. So perfect enlightenment realizes that it's not the slightest bit different from our immature state. And our immature state, the fact that there's no duality between our immature state and the mature state. We have that already, that nature, that there's no duality between the way we are now and the way we will be. However, that fact that we're no different right now, we are Buddha, we are the Buddha we will become, we are that Buddha right now in this way, which is that we have problems that we someday won't have. But the way we will be is not dual with the way we are now.

[13:57]

And that's the way we are now. But we also have this, like we have these illusions of past, present and future and so on to deal with, which we project on our fundamental nature and believe. And this realization I mentioned last week comes with qualities. And these qualities make possible activities. And these activities are the activities which are relating to living beings so that they will mature. So being the realized Buddha is not just to be a realized Buddha. It's so that you have these qualities and these activities which help the unrealized beings.

[14:59]

So we need to work for the realization of our nature because the realization of our nature helps other beings realize their nature. And in that realization, we understand that cyclic misery and peace are not dual. But we realize in addition to this, there seems to be plenty of realization or plenty of realization of cyclic misery. What we're working for is more realization of peace. And that comes with understanding the non-duality of peace and suffering. The three jewels And these four things I just mentioned, which are our basic nature, our Buddha nature, the realization of it, enlightenment, the qualities of enlightenment, and the activities of enlightenment, these four, plus the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, make up five Vajra Prakritas.

[16:21]

And the first three, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, arise from the interaction of the last four. Buddha, Dharma, Sangha arise the conversation between immature beings whose nature is pure, fundamentally, between immature beings who have Buddha nature interacting with the realization of Buddha nature and all its qualities and activities. All that gives rise to the Three Jewels. Yes. Yes, Linda. I think you could say the four and then I do have another question. The four? The four. So you said the four. Yeah. So there's seven. We start with three jewels which are sublime and rare.

[17:29]

And they arise from our Buddha nature, our Buddha element, in interacting with the conditions of enlightenment, the qualities of enlightenment, and the activities of enlightenment. So because enlightenment has certain qualities, it can then have certain activities, and the activities it has are to bring whose nature is fundamentally pure, to bring them to Buddhahood, to teach them how to deal, how to honor their Buddha nature and deal with the pollution so that they will mature into this fundamental purity and letting go of the impurities without getting rid of them because they're non-dual. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

[18:37]

Somehow the non-duality solution, I have trouble bringing those two together, but unless you just say the solution of the solution or the idea... Yeah, so... Solution is non-dual with... purity. That's one kind of non-duality. Pollution and non-pollution. They're both resolved in non-duality. You could say they're resolved in non-duality, yeah. But they also, you could also say, they dependently co-arise. You can't have purity without impurity. And also, there is non-duality between

[19:39]

cyclic misery and the peace of peace and ease of nirvana they're also non-dual and there's also non-duality between the buddhas who have realized the buddha nature and sentient beings who have the buddha nature but haven't realized it there's non-duality there too So the purity, you could say, is the purity of being free of the pollution. The purity is being free of misconceptions and attachments. It's our Buddha nature. Our even more basic nature is pure. But our nature is, we have a basic nature, which is suchness, which is reality.

[20:47]

Everybody equally has reality on their side. There's a reality to everything. And nothing is more real than another You could say, well, attachments and misconceptions, you could say, well, they're less real than non-attachment. You could say that. But again, the less real is non-dual, if there's anything more real. So, Last week I skipped over the three jewels and I'm not going to get into them too much tonight probably, but I did want to mention that and this treatise doesn't mention it, that when we have a ceremony of receiving the three treasures, we often

[21:50]

there's a tradition of before receiving the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, or before going for refuge, or before returning to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, we practice repentance. And this treatise I'm telling you about doesn't mention the repentance part, but I just wanted to mention that. And then after I mentioned it, I wanted to say more about it. But, Elaine has a... Yeah? She said I could shut her up? Did you say I could shut you up or not? Okay. Did you want to say something more? But the first thing was really good. I appreciate that, that I got a shut-up license.

[22:54]

I said, I'm having a conversation, and I'm having a conversation with God. I don't believe in the word God. I never use the word God. And I was talking to this God, like, much more of a sense of ease than I'm having even talking to you. It was like God was my buddy. And I was having this conversation with Don, and I noticed during the, and it was out loud, and I noticed different levels in me as I was speaking to this dimension, which at the moment I call God. And we have different dimensions, mainly eyes.

[24:05]

So I've never done anything like that. Maybe I should continue. Since I got to talk about it, it lasted a while. There were many multi-levels. One of the levels was the desire to penetrate through what I was saying. Everything I was saying was nothing. I didn't believe in anything. I did not disbelieve in anything, but I wanted to have this conversation. So basically, you know, it was, and I was saying, you know, God, you listen to Adam.

[25:13]

In a very fresh way, very fresh. Too intimate. No, it was not too intimate. It was not even intimate enough. Well, thank you for telling me about this conversation. Thank you for telling me about the conversation. The conversation is... That's the main thing, is the conversation. You don't have to believe who you're talking to. You can still have a conversation. May it be so, may it be so, that I'm having a conversation. And may you also have a conversation.

[26:22]

I believe I believe in conversation. I believe I am a conversation. And I believe it would be good if I remembered that I'm a conversation. And I believe it's good to perform conversation in order to help me remember that I'm conversation. Thank you. I'd rather not give advice, but I am saying that I support and value conversation. I think that's what I'm saying is that the conversation is what gives rise to the Buddha.

[27:29]

Buddhas do not make themselves into Buddhas. Buddhas in conversation with Buddhas And our Buddha nature in conversation with other Buddha natures who are in conversation with Buddhas and Buddha qualities give rise to Buddha. And along with Buddha comes Dharma and Sangha. Buddha is this highest continuity. But there's also like a lineage or a source of this highest continuity is that living beings who have problems already fully possess the Buddha's wisdom. And by conversation with Buddha's wisdom, which you can call him by many names,

[28:37]

the Buddha is born, or you could say, we realize Buddhahood by that conversation. Yes? I'm wondering if our spiritual nature is the nature in association is not so much that Buddha nature is in association. Buddha nature is the association of the attachments and misconceptions with reality. That's our nature. We've all got reality and at this point in our development we also have some kind of like temporary close association with misconceptions and attachments. That's our Buddha nature.

[29:43]

No, they're just not particularly associated. So, again, I think I mentioned the Sanskrit for our Buddha nature. One of the Sanskrit expressions is, I believe it's called sa-ma-la-ta-ta-ta. which means sa, like with, mala, pollution, and then ta-ta-ta. It's with, not mixed, but with pollution or imperfection, you know, attachments. There's a conversation there too. And if we would realize that conversation, the association wouldn't be very strong. Buddha, the realization of this situation is ta-ta-ta also, but now it's a-mala, ta-ta-ta.

[30:52]

It's suchness without pollution. So by having a conversation between attachment and misconceptions with our wisdom, that would also that would be the same as that would be that wouldn't be the wisdom is the wisdom which would would realize that this is the wisdom and this is the delusion and the delusion's illusion and and they're not dual because wisdom is understanding the delusion So they're in conversation. But we also somehow need and we have realization all around us. It's teaching us how to have conversations with our delusions. And it's teaching us through conversation. So we have conversations with realization to help us develop realization. In other words, to help us have conversation with things that we don't really think we're conversing with,

[31:59]

fixtures rather than conversation pieces like my view is not just a conversation piece it's like the way things are rather than the way I think things are is something to talk about something to get feedback on yes Yes. So I'm wondering if a way to put that would be through conversation, we realize the projections or see them. That's what we can kind of see. Objections are always happening. Civilizations, maybe they're idle civilizations, they're not pure nature. So, you know, we emphasize conversation. Talking about conversation between beings as well as... And so, I'm kind of wondering what the...

[33:04]

dynamic of the conversation. It's like, how do I describe that? I think that it's through the conversation, the projections, wherever they emerge, and they're seen. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And we could converse further. And we could converse further about this. Yes. So, through conversation, there is a revelation that certain things which we thought were true were really projections. Certain things which we thought were true about something were actually ideas about that thing. And we might also notice through conversation that we're kind of stuck on some of our ideas about things. Conversation might help oh, I actually am not so flexible about this, someone, actually some other human being might say to me, you seem to be kind of stuck on that point.

[34:10]

And if I don't just stop there, but I say, well, tell me more about that, then they might, and I might say, oh, I think you're right. I think I am kind of stuck. might help you see clearly, more clearly, these attachments and misconceptions. But also you said that there could be a conversation with beings also. And through conversation we can realize that these projections and misconceptions are beings. And part of the conversation is also with the projections and with the attachments. and to have a conversation with them as though they were beings, and to develop compassion towards the things that are causing suffering. They're calling for compassion, just like our original nature is calling for compassion too, like, would you please realize me? So we converse with our original nature, partly by remembering it, and partly by bowing down to it occasionally, and saluting to it, and singing praises of it, and be respectful to the things which are the pollutions which hang around it.

[35:27]

So conversation with the pollutions, conversation with the pure nature, and conversations with the wisdom that has realized, fully realized this situation. And in the realization of Buddhahood, which is the realization of our nature, of our original nature and polluted associations, the realization of that is up, it accepts that all the suffering that comes from pollution is omnipresent. So the Buddhas are not like, okay, you know, I don't know if all this pollution and suffering is here all the time. No, they do. They're willing to have conversations with no end, with all the beings who are suffering because of pollution.

[36:33]

I'm thinking of other phrases for study the self, study delusion. Do you say that that is study the self and study delusion is just like where the study can take place? It seems like if you start with a study, you know, on the study of realization or curation, I'm wondering if that's like a misstep, as opposed to studying the self-realization. With your hand gestures, for the studying the realization, you stretched your hands out farther. Yes. And then when you talked about studying the self, you had your hands closer. So this idea that the realization is out there, that's another idea.

[37:45]

So you should realize the idea of this realization, that idea is actually right here. So the place to start is... Yeah, that's... ...sort of said earlier, that before we received the gopher refuge in the Buddha... We practice repentance. We admit that, you know, I tend to put Buddha out there and forget that when I put Buddha out there that's actually an idea in here. So I confess, I had an idea about what Buddha is, and I actually thought that was Buddha, and I'm sorry. Sorry, Buddha. Sorry, Buddha. I mean, I'm not so sorry that I had an idea of you. I'm sorry that the idea of you was you. Having an idea of Buddha is not a misconception as long as you realize it's just an idea of Buddha.

[38:49]

You can have whatever idea you want about Buddha, If you think Buddha's like tall, that's okay. But if you hold on to it, then that's a misconception. Or if you think Buddha's short, and you believe it, that's a misconception. But just the idea of Buddha's tall or short, no problem. And then once you think it's true and you attach to it, then that's even more of a problem. And that way it's sensational. You're missing the chance of having a conversation. Yes? Is your name Betsy? Gail. Who's Betsy? Which one is Betsy? Betsy. Oh, Becky and Gail? Okay, Gail. I had this experience and I think it was

[39:50]

and described it for a long time. I was suffering intensely over something, and at some point I realized that the suffering was happening because my ego has got me to dance and dance and have actions, and in a moment I developed that, and I realized it was suffering. I was like, kind of chill, and I thought, and relaxation and ease. And then, of course, I understand some things now, but I can't help but feel it. Because I did experience a lot of ease. But my sense is that you're saying that just creates Your sense is correct.

[40:52]

And this original gift that came to you, from your story, and even if you don't have this story, from your story, I think you got this gift not because you were trying to get rid of all that trouble. You didn't mention you were having all this trouble and you were kind to it and then you saw what it was. You didn't say that. But I think that's what happened. I think you had all this trouble and you responded to it with compassion and then you got to see what it was. The wisdom came because you weren't trying to get rid of those delusions which were causing suffering. If we try to get rid of the delusions that cause suffering rather than listening to them with compassion, they just... they just keep working until they get the compassion that they need, because they want to be free.

[41:56]

And you felt free of them, freed not from you, but from the situation of not being allowed to be. Yeah. And yeah, so a big part of this teaching is to not try to get rid of evil, but to rather to realize good. But realizing good comes from not trying to get rid of evil. So we come back to repentance. So going for refuge in Buddha is good, but the way you go for refuge in Buddha is by admitting that you did something unskillful or unkind.

[43:09]

Admitting, confessing that you're unkind and feeling sorry for it is wholesome. Being wholesome is to confess unwholesomeness. So before going for refuge in these jewels, which I've described how they come to be, where they come from this conversation, we go for refuge in them. But before we go for refuge, in a ceremony, we We say, in a formal way, we say, all my ancient twisted karma. In other words, we admit that we are ancient, we are in a lineage of ancient karmic activity, and this karmic activity is born of greed, hate, and delusion. We've been involved in greed, hate, and delusion, and we've been acting it out through body, speech, and mind.

[44:13]

We admit this, and we somewhat regret it. We admit that being human and some of the things we've done, we regret. We don't regret everything we've done as humans, but we are human, we admit it, and we admit that we've done a lot of stuff from beginningless time. That is the beginning of wholesomeness, and wholesomeness is returning to the Buddha. And then we start to contemplate not just returning to Buddha, but realizing it. And again, part of realizing it is to confess our attachments and misconceptions, which is not trying to get rid of them. If you try to get rid of them, you haven't really confessed them. When you confess them, that's it.

[45:15]

You don't confess and then... In a way, you confess them and you kind of recycle them. And the way you recycle them is by going for refuge, not by pushing them away. Pushing them away is not kind. Confession is kind. You'll give them you give your shortcomings, you give your unwholesomeness its due. What's its unwholesomeness do? What's it do? What? No, no. What's it do? What's due to it? Compassion. It causes suffering. Things that cause suffering, what is due to them? What are they calling for? They're calling for compassion. and to say, okay, that was unskillful. Unskillfulness would like some recognition, but kind recognition.

[46:16]

So I need to learn how to say, that was in a kind way, and then also that being kind towards it helps me maybe feel sorry about it, and then be kind to my sorriness, my sorrow. That's a conversation with unwholesomeness. It's a compassionate... Confession and repentance are a compassionate conversation with unwholesomeness, which is the beginning of wholesomeness. A conversation with unwholesomeness is the beginning of wholesomeness. And then a conversation with the Buddha... is the middle the middle of wholesomeness. And then practicing the teachings is an unending process of wholesomeness.

[47:23]

So we are into wholesomeness but the path to wholesomeness starts with admitting unwholesomeness. Don't go for the wholesome until you've done your homework. Yes? I have a lack of faith. Yes. Okay. A recurring lack of faith. Yes. What is... Well... What's it like? What about it? Well, like, one of the thoughts I have tonight is that what I'm talking about is, you know, fast food, and on Tuesday nights, and it lasts a lot of the week, but... practical. I started to get very practical. And when I was driving over here from the window, I noticed the smoke, the haze. All right, it worked. Because of the Supreme Court and everything else, and then there's this... And I thought, oh, God, I wasn't even worried about fire on top of everything else.

[48:31]

And so I found myself in a state of fear. And I... And when I was listening to you, I was thinking, well, what if the fire was at your back right now, or at our mind? Does all this stuff apply at that point in time, or just in conversation? Well, fire is not, I'm going to call it, fire is calling for compassion, but fire is not unwholesomeness. Oh, fear, fear, fear, fear is not, fear is not unwholesomeness. I don't think so. I think fear comes because of unwholesomeness. For example, mindfulness is usually part of wholesomeness. For example, mindfulness of awakening or mindfulness of the teaching.

[49:36]

Mindfulness of the Buddha, mindfulness of the teaching. This is wholesome. This is the middle of wholesomeness. To remember the Buddha and the teaching and the Sangha. That's the wholesome. That's the middle of wholesome. But the beginning of wholesomeness would be to confess what? Confess mindfulness. like I wasn't mindful. And in not being mindful, fear arose. Often, yeah. Well, did you say, why would the fire... Yeah. Well, I'm not saying it definitely would be, but I kind of feel like if I'm really mindful, I might not get afraid of the fire. I might just be a good fire.

[50:39]

I might enter into a really good conversation with the fire. So, with dangerous things like fires and tigers... Yeah, with things like that, if you are in conversation with them, fear may not arise. I'm not saying it absolutely, definitely won't. But people who interact with fire mindfully and also notice when they're not mindful and confess when they're not mindful, they get more and more mindful with the fire. And they're in the middle of the fire, maybe, I would say, perhaps with less fear. So mindfulness does go with awakening to If you are afraid to notice it and to notice maybe that increased mindfulness, which also goes with increased patience and increased generosity and carefulness, that we can be less afraid of dangerous things when we're really mindful.

[51:56]

So I might confess, for example, I was not mindful and then I got really afraid because I wasn't mindful. I was involved in something and I lost my mindfulness, I lost that practice, and a lot of fear came up. But I think fear didn't come. I might still feel like I'm driving a bus, I'm not paying attention, it's full of kids, and I'm driving along and I didn't have an accident. But I realized I was driving and I wasn't there. I was up in my head, you know, distracted from being mindful of driving. And I'm really sorry. I feel really bad. I, you know, and then I might, yeah, I'll just stop there, that I might feel really sorrowful that I wasn't more skillful and wholesome.

[53:02]

So I confess that I wasn't skillful, I wasn't wholesome in driving the car full of kids. And I'm really sorry. And that's the beginning of wholesomeness. But I could also then become, if I then didn't start practicing wholesomeness, Instead of like suddenly now, okay, now I'm going to really pay attention to my driving. I could slip away from being mindful of the driving and not think, what if I do that again? And my job is not to sit there. People aren't saying, would you please get in the car and think about what if you get in an accident? They're asking me to drive about getting in an accident. Generally speaking, people who are worried about driving think and skillfully aren't as skillful as people who are mindful and driving skillfully. Somebody can drive really skillfully, really mindfully, afraid. And if they're really doing that, they might be able to report to you that if they got into fear, that would be a distraction from mindfulness of.

[54:11]

driving skillfully. If somebody's skating and goes up to do a triple axle and they worry about whether it's going to fall, they almost for sure will fall. There's no room for being worried when you're spinning through the air and coming down on the tip of your skate. There's no room for that. That skill requires not worrying. It requires tremendous mindfulness. However, to get requires many cases of repentance of confessing that you weren't mindful and being in conversation with your coach who points out to you that you weren't mindful and you accepting that feedback and being sorry that you weren't mindful and being motivated to try mindfulness until finally you can fly off the ground, spin in the air, and come down on the edge of a piece of metal on the ice because you are so skillful.

[55:14]

But that skillfulness comes from lots of confession and repentance. And that skillfulness, I would say, at the core of it, when they... Now some people, again, many people do fly up in the air, worry, and fall. That happens, of course. But then you would say, your coach would say, yeah, well, that's not what we're doing here. We're not training in order to be afraid. But if we're afraid, we should confess. The coach would say, were you afraid just now when you did that? Let's do something else then that you can do fearlessly. Until you can do something fearlessly, and then we'll try something which, okay, ready now, can you try this to do this present way? But we're not trying to get rid of the fear because that would also be unskillful. But if there's fear, we want to confess it. And also, the fear is coming from... And so what are we afraid of?

[56:17]

We're afraid that we won't be compassionate. We're afraid that we won't be attentive to each other. We're afraid that we won't listen carefully. We're afraid that we won't respect people. Okay? Those are fears we have. But you could also just say, I'm sorry, I wasn't compassionate, I'm sorry. Then to be afraid that you're going to not be compassionate, but you could. And if you're afraid of being compassionate, you could say, I honor. Being afraid, again, is not, however, being uncompassionate. But I'm afraid of being burning, not of not being compassionate. You're afraid of burning? Yes. Yeah, but... So if you're afraid of being... If you're afraid of getting burned, okay, then what's your practice that you want to do? Yeah, right.

[57:18]

Okay, there it is. there's fire, you notice you're afraid, and what your practice is to have a conversation with it, which is perhaps to say, I'm afraid. And so I want to have a conversation with, in other words, I want to be compassionate towards it. So the next time, and I don't know, maybe I wasn't compassionate at that moment with my fear. I wasn't, and that I'm sorry about. I'm not sorry about the fear. I'm sorry that my fear came up in me, and I wasn't compassionate to us. Or fear came up in a friend, and I wasn't compassionate to it. I'm sorry about that. I'm not sorry my friend is afraid. Buddha's not sorry that people are afraid. Buddha is incompetent.

[58:19]

all frightened beings, Buddha is accepting that there's no end to frightened beings. But if Buddha forgets, if bodhisattvas forget to be compassionate towards frightened beings, then they might notice that ...confess it and say they're sorry because they're trying to be in a compassionate conversation with everybody, which means with fear, with confusion, with hatred, with doubt. Doubt is not something that's calling for compassion. And if I don't give it, if somebody tells me they doubt and I don't observe them with compassion, and I noticed that, then I would say, oh, I might not say to them because it might not be good, but I might say to my teacher, you know, somebody was really doubting the... They were doubting the teaching, and I wasn't kind to them, and I'm really sorry.

[59:30]

Somebody was afraid of fire. This friend of mine was afraid of fire, and she was calling for God, and I didn't give it to her. I'm sorry. I was afraid, and I missed the opportunity. Right in the middle of my fear of the fire, I missed the opportunity to practice. I'm sorry. I'm not sorry that I was afraid. I'm sorry that I missed a beat, a compassion beat. Oh, but I have this great opportunity. Thank you for your excellent question. Yes? Well, anything that comes up in your mind. mindful of your body and your consciousness. It's hard to be mindful of your unconsciousness because you're not conscious of it. It's hard to apply. But you can apply mindfulness to everything in your conscious mind, which includes your conscious awareness of your body,

[60:39]

...is your conscious version of your body. So you would practice mindfulness of the body, right? Which means you're aware that you're sitting right now. You're aware of your posture. You're aware of your breathing. You're aware of your feelings. You're aware of the sounds you're hearing. of the smells you're smelling. You're aware of the sights you're seeing. You're aware of all that. You're aware of your feelings. You're aware of your perceptions. You're aware of your attitudes, your opinions. You're aware of fear. You're aware of discouragement. You're aware of greed, hate, and delusion. You're aware of all those things. And if you're really into that, whatever, you know, I just think of sending you ping-pong balls of all this stuff. You're just aware of each one. well, then you have not much to confess. You're doing your job. And fear can come from, what, some place? You know?

[61:41]

But you're mindful... Pardon? Being aware of fear is... Well, if you're aware of fear and also you're aware that you're aware of fear, that's mindfulness. What was your question after this? Does it lessen it? Anyway, being aware of the fear, being aware of the fear, being really fully aware of the fear, really letting the fear be, is not concerned with lessening the fear. So there's this thing called fear. There's fear and then there's trying to reduce the fear, which goes very well with intensifying the fear.

[62:48]

So some people are afraid and they try to reduce the fear and then that often makes the fear flare up. But if you're afraid and you're aware of the fear and you're with it, then you come down to feel the fear right now in this tiny moment. Not thinking about that it's been going on for five minutes or ten years. Not worrying about whether it's going to go on. Not trying to make it stop. You're totally there. You're present. And you're willing to have a conversation with it. And in that conversation, you're going to realize your Buddha nature, which is there all the time. But if we don't practice with this stuff, if we don't have a conversation, we don't realize it. Was there somebody else over there? Yes. a conversation with, for example, fear.

[63:59]

Mindfulness is the opportunity to start the conversation. Where's the power station? It seems like this is now unforgiveness or acceptance. That is more likely. This would manifest. But that comes after the click. Mindfulness is the beginning. Not necessarily, but it could go that way. You could be practicing mindfulness prior to being welcoming and accepting. It's possible that you could be mindful or I could be mindful. I am not accepting. I'm like, I totally don't accept this. But, you know, that's what's going on here. And I'm mindful. Big non-acceptance. But you could also be accepting and not be mindful. But, you know, like I throw you a ball, you could catch it without really being mindful.

[65:05]

And then you could be talking to Tyler. I throw you the ball, you catch it. And I said, did you know you caught a ball? And you say, what? So you can be in conversation and not be mindful. However, if you're in conversation, the conversation is more wholehearted. it works better. You can also be mindful that you're not up for conversation. However, if you are mindful that you're not up for conversation, that will be compatible with an evolutionary process where you want to be in conversation. Because if you're aware that you're not wanting to be in conversation, you'll see how stressful that is. And you'll gradually see, actually, I do want to be in conversation. I actually did not want to a few minutes ago, but then I really was there for that, and I saw that that was really not... It was, you know, like, you know, you could say to me, Red, do you want to have a conversation?

[66:07]

I'd say, no. And you could say, yes, you do. And I might go, you're right. But I might not be able to do that if I wasn't, like, listening to you. And listening to me, when you said, do you want to have a conversation? I said, no. You say, yes, you do. I said, yeah. Actually, yeah. So there's a lot of possibilities here. But mindfulness is part of the conversation being maturing. And if you're not, if you have immature conversational skills, immature enthusiasm for having conversations, then being aware of that, and confessing that you're not very skillful with conversations, and you're not very skillful because you don't want to get skillful, and you can see that that's not skillful, and you confess it and you're sorry, that's the beginning of becoming skillful. Yes? Can you give me a teaching in reference to the experience I talked about?

[67:14]

A teaching? Yes. A teaching I would give you is say, I'm so grateful that I had a conversation. I'm so grateful that I have a conversation and I want to have more of them. Say that. I'm so grateful that I have I'm so grateful that I have that conversation And I want to know many more. Yeah. Thank you. That's a teaching which I recommend to all of us. to remember that, that if you have had conversations and you appreciate them, to note that. And that's a confession, but you might not feel repentance. You might feel more like, that's what I want to do. And if I don't do that, I hope I notice. I want to notice and confess it because I want to do it.

[68:18]

Okay, thank you very much for another amazing Tuesday night at the Temple of Yoga.

[68:36]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_86.89